1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to optical instruments and, more particularly, to optical instruments employing a reticle having a reference pattern and a plurality of contours each representing an iso-response time for an average viewer to respond to a light of a preselected color for use in laying out the location of visual indicators on a work surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, very little data has been available regarding the length of time it takes for a person to respond to colored stimuli imaged in the peripheral visual field. As a consequence, equipment designers have been required to design and lay out instrument and control panels through laborious time consuming procedures which only indirectly take human response time into account. For example, instrument panel designers who must locate warning lights in aircraft cockpits and the like have placed such lights in conventional places without necessarily considering the optimum location so as to most likely to elicit the fastest visual detection and manual response.
Examples of prior art, optical instruments employing reticles are found in U.S. Pat No. 2,500,405,"Reticle Mount," M.N. Fairband and U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,561, "Passive Bright Pattern Reticle," G.R. Griffin et al. None of these patents reveal optical instruments having a reticle which is particularly formed for use in designing panels on which warning lights are located such that the lights are capable of being observed and responded to as rapidly as possible.